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December 08, 2006

New digital photography guides from Adobe

Adobe has commissioned a number of digital photography guides from industry heavy hitters, covering everything from metadata to color management, digital workflow to black & white conversion. The complete list with links is in this post’s extended entry, so check ’em out when you have a sec.

The Role of Working Spaces in Adobe Applications
by Andrew Rodney
Photographer Andrew Rodney shows you what RGB working spaces are, why you need them, and when you might select one working space over another. This article provides the basic information you’ll need if you are using Adobe® Photoshop®, Adobe Camera Raw, or any application that supports International Color Consortium (ICC) color management.PDF Dowload Link (468k)Figure 4: 3D example from articleFigure 5: 3D example from article

A Raw Workflow in the Real World: The March of the Yellow Penguins
by Jeff Schewe
Use Photoshop CS2 for raw image processing, and boost your productivity. Photographer Jeff Schewe shows you how he took his raw workflow to the test under extreme Arctic conditions.PDF Download Link (11.2MB)

Preparing Images for Delivery
by Jeff Schewe
What should photographers do to ensure that their images reproduce well in print? Jeff Schewe outlines how you can take some precautions and learn the lingo to communicate with your print service provider to get the print results you want.PDF Dowload Link (7.1MB)

These new papers join the previously available papers (all updated for Photoshop CS2):

Digital Image Integrity
by George Reis
Photographs have been altered or “faked” ever since the very beginning of chemical photography. Learn how Photoshop CS is providing forensics experts and law enforcement specialists better tools for evaluating the authenticity of a photograph.PDF Download Link (1.2MB)

Calibrating the Digital Darkroom Environment
by Karl Lang
If you want to create the most accurate prints possible in your digital darkroom, you’ll want to learn how to calibrate your work environment. Karl Lang steps you through the basics of how and why you need to manage your work environment as carefully as you do your studio lighting.PDF Download Link (722k)

Black and White Conversion Tutorial
by John Paul Caponigro
Are you looking for more detail in your digital B&W conversions? Or perhaps better contrast and tonal separation? Here’s an opportunity to learn how to get maximum flexibility out of your B&W conversions. Follow along step-by-step, as John Paul Caponigro shows you how the pros do it in this dynamic PDF tutorial.PDF Download Link (2.5MB)

Black and White Conversion Action
This download is a Photoshop Action (.atn) that automates the sequence of steps outlined in the JP Caponigro tutorial above. It is not required to complete the tutorial. This Action is compatible with Adobe Photoshop CS and CS2. Action Download Link (10k)

About Metadata
by Jeff Schewe
Find out how to give your images more value — and make them easier to find — by learning the basics of metadata.PDF Download Link (4MB)

A Color Managed Raw Workflow
by Jeff Schewe and Bruce Fraser
Messy chemicals and processing trays are a thing of the past, but you’re still the one who must be sure your raw photos are processed properly. Learn how to take control by mastering these basics of color management in your raw workflow.PDF Download Link (5.3MB)

Making the Transition from Film to Digital
by Michael Reichmann
Making the transition from shooting film to shooting digital is an exciting journey, but without this roadmap you might find more detours than solutions. Author and photographer Michael Reichmann provides a guide to the new language of digital photography, and will help you identify the crucial differences of shooting with film.PDF Download Link (1.5MB)

Highlight Recovery in Adobe Camera Raw
by Jeff Schewe
The best digital cameras have about the same dynamic range as transparency film, but with Adobe Camera Raw you can actually process your raw images to pull out more highlight detail than you may have thought possible.PDF Download Link (3.3MB)

State of the Art
by R. Mac Holbert
When is a photograph deemed “art”? Today, the adoption of digital photography would seem to be pushing the clock back over 100 years, judging from the resistance of some to the new technologies. R. Mac Holbert gives us his perspective of the state of the art in this timely article.PDF Download Link (435k)

will we be seeing more of these in the future, or is this a one time deal?[Good question, and I frankly don’t know, but I would hope so. Can I take it that you like them and would like to see more in the future? We’d welcome suggestions for topics/contributors. –Thanks, J.]

A question: I see a lot of “plug-ins” and accessory programs designed top work with Photoshop. Will this work with Elements as well as CS2? I’m a serious amateur, but on a retired income I’m unlikely to ever spring for the full CS2. So far I’ve been happy with Elements.[Most plug-ins can run in either Photoshop or Elements, but you should consult each plug-in developer to ensure that what you want is compatible with your version of Elements. –J.]

Great pieces of info. this field is changing so fast that these are better than buying books that sometimes take months to produce and are close to old news by the time they appear. BTW, Jeff, if I didn’t so say so earlier, great images from Antarctica!

Chris Ogden — 12:24 PM on December 13, 2006

Thanks for sharing! I’m still waiting for the article about maximizing Photoshop (for Photographers) performance on a Mac. Particularly, the impact, if any of the video card. Many searches, at different times, have not turned up anything.[There’s lots of info out there from Adobe and others. Try searching for “optimizing Photoshop.” –J.]

Eric R. Hinson — 9:36 AM on December 14, 2006

All of us, beginners thru professionals, appreciate these kinds of listings. Even those of us who have a workflow/system we like enjoy reading up on these issues. Its not easy keeping up with software and all the different ways of using it along with the other day-to-day goings on of a working pro. Thanks again and keep posting![Awesome–thanks for the encouragement. –J.]

Marr Miller — 5:40 PM on December 14, 2006

Ways to imporve ones craft is very welcome. No-one can possibly learn enough! Thanks for this resource. How will CS3 impact on the process?[Sure thing. I’m sure we’ll have lots to say about how CS3 fits in here, but do remember that it’s not a finished, shipping product. So, more info will come out in time. –J.]

Thanks a lot for your tutorials. I would like to see how the “pros” use Photoshop to sharpen their images.
Thanks![Ed, you might want to check out this info from Bruce Fraser, as well as his book on the subject. –J.]

KVS Setty — 9:09 PM on December 24, 2006

Thanks a lot for all the articles. Each article is a diamond in a heap of coal and in fact I read each article again and again and each time it gives me some little more than what it gave me previously,that much info it has got and I am using this info to teach photography to my students at free of cost.Thanks for it again and again. and like to see more such relevant articles form all the stallwarts[Cool–glad you like ’em! –J.]

When I option click on the B&W action, it downloads a .txt file and I swear it is just supposed to be an .atn file. Is the link bad or am I just screwing it up?[I see that my copy of Safari downloads it at “bw-conversion.atn.txt.” You should be able to make it work by simply removing the .txt extension. Doing so on my machine made the ATN file show up as associated with Photoshop. –J.]

RJPHOTOVIDEO — 11:53 AM on January 12, 2007

Tried to download the Black and White Conversion Action, but got a page of code (enclosed)[What platform/browser are you using? Did you try right-clicking/Ctrl-clicking and choosing to save the source on disk? –J.]

RJPHOTOVIDEO — 12:55 PM on January 15, 2007

I’m replying to your reply concerning me having trouble downloading the B&W Conversion Action. I’m on Mac OS X 10.4.8, using Safari (v2.0.4). I just tried it again buy clicking the red Action Download Link (10k), and still had the page of code open in my browser, without any download window opening. Weird.[Sorry, I’m not sure what to tell you. How about Opt-clicking the link? That works for me (same system config). –J.]

Hello Jeff!
“Photographic expedition to Antarctica, February 4 – 23, 2007”
When and where to check new photo facts?[I’m sure Jeff & co. will have lots of photos & words to share upon their return. –J.]